Urbi et Orbi: Urban Jürgensen

By Elizabeth Doerr

Urban Jürgensen is one of watchmaking's most revered
names. QP examines where the brand has been and its groundbreaking
development of escapement technology in 2011.

The horological history of Urban Jürgensen begins with Jørgen
Jørgensen (1748-1811) in Copenhagen. Jürgen Jürgensen, as Jørgensen
later changed his name to, spent time between 1766 and 1772 in Le
Locle with Jacques- Frédéric Houriet - a watchmaker that enjoyed
one of the best reputations of his day. The two forged a lasting
relationship and Jürgensen stayed and worked with Houriet from 1768
to 1775, after which he returned to Denmark and opened a shop,
originally importing English, French and Swiss timepieces and
acting as the official Scandinavian importer for the Courvoisier
& Houriet company.

As was so often the way in the 18th century, son followed
father, and Jürgen's son Urban (1776-1830), also became a
watchmaker. And it was Urban and his son Jules, who were destined
to become the most famous horologists of the family, thanks to
reputations chiefly resting on the groundwork that Urban did as a
theoretical watchmaker, as well as his success with marine
chronometers and the odd pendulum clock. He founded his eponymous
company in Denmark in 1811, where his main specialty was the
manufacture of chronometers for astronomical and navigational use.
He later became the royal clockmaker to the court of King Frederick
VI of Denmark.

The
Reference P8 is cased in platinum, pink or yellow gold and with
hand engine-turned silver dial displaying hours, minutes and
seconds and power reserve.

Watches from the early-19th century are valued by contemporary
collectors and experts both for their sophistication and the
balanced harmony of design. Little surprise then that Jürgensen's
timepieces are highly prized among today's enthusiasts and
specialists.

The modern era

Peter Baumberger, a trained watchmaker as well as a collector,
was an active part of the Swiss vintage watch scene in the 1970s, a
period in horological history marked, for the most part, by the
march of the quartz watch. In 1975, Baumberger met Dr. Helmut
Crott, previously owner of the eponymous auction house, which was
Germany's premier address for vintage horology sales. In 1979,
Baumberger - who had until then generally dealt in vintage
timepieces - bought Urban Jürgensen and Crott became a
shareholder.

Two years later, the brand was re-launched (if either of these
general-usage words can be applied to the low-key, low-quantity
business that Baumberger built), thus marking the modern
incarnation of the small company, which was managed in a very
'under-the-radar' manner using exceptional craftsmen from the Jura
region. Only 50 to 300 pieces were issued in a year, generally
based on ébauches sourced from Frédéric Piguet.

During the 18th and 19th
centuries, members of the Jürgensen family, notably Urban (inset)
and Jules, worked alongside other horological geniuses such as
Houriet, Breguet, Berthoud and Arnold.

Watches released under the Urban Jürgensen name have remained
rare and sought-after for the past 30 years, without the need for
marketing and publicity. The prospective owners of these pieces
were of a certain ilk; they knew exactly what they were purchasing
and they were interested in buying a timepiece clothed in
traditional dress - exactly as the original Jürgensen family would
have created it: traditionally sized round cases, guilloché dials,
clear numeral fonts and blued Breguet-style hands remained the
order of the day.

One of the independent craftsmen that Baumberger worked with was
an Englishman, who performed a great deal of restoration work for
Baumberger. Derek Pratt, who was born in 1938 and spent his
formative years in London and Kent, lived in Switzerland from 1965.
Some of Pratt's most acclaimed work was done in the name of the
modern Urban Jürgensen company, in particular a tourbillon pocket
watch that Christie's sold for SFr.315,000 in 2008. Pratt became
both a consultant to, and the Technical Director for, Urban
Jürgensen during Baumberger's time as the owner of the brand.

Before his untimely death in 2009, Pratt had completed an oval
pocket watch outfitted with a flying tourbillon, remontoir, detent
escapement, and temperature indication in addition to a power
reserve indication. Crott describes this pocket watch as his,
"homage to some of the most important watchmakers of all time like
Breguet, Arnold and Helwig." Unsurprisingly, it took Pratt a full
ten years to complete this masterpiece.

Urban's specialty was the manufacture of marine
chronometers for astronomical and navigational use, such as this
one dating from 1811.

The chronometer escapement

Another of the projects Pratt had begun before his death was the
miniaturisation of the chronometer pivoted detent escapement for
use in a wristwatch. To complete this project, Baumberger and Pratt
enlisted the aid of two renowned independent watchmakers: Jean-
François Mojon and Kari Voutilainen.

Before discussing the process, it is important to understand a
little of why the chronometer escapement was such a breakthrough.
Compared to the Swiss lever escapement most commonly in use today,
the chronometer escapement is far more precise. One of the reasons
for this is that the escape wheel provides direct impulse in just
one direction. To compare, the Swiss lever escapement provides its
impulse indirectly in both directions (entry and exit) through the
pallet lever.

Another advantage is that the impulse planes - the pallets and
teeth of the wheel - do not need oil, unlike the traditional Swiss
lever escapement (unless made of silicon). Also, experts -
including Mojon - relate that the entire design of the chronometer
escapement is a simpler one than that of the Swiss lever
escapement; and all the most creative watchmakers in the industry
praise simplicity again and again as the way to achieve the optimal
results.

Derek
Pratt was a Master Watchmaker for Urban Jürgensen until
2009.

But of course, the chronometer escapement also has some
drawbacks, which is the main reason that it has not been used in
wristwatches until now. One of the biggest considerations was the
thorough shockproofing of the escapement, since the pivoted detent
is particularly known to 'gallop' or 'trip' when subjected to
shock. This causes the rate to speed up by double. Additionally,
the escapement does not begin running automatically and its
traditional spring components have, up to now, been both difficult
to manufacture and extremely sensitive. The chronometer escapement
has also in the past been difficult to finely adjust and only
satisfactorily done so by true experts - Mojon confirms that this
escapement can be adjusted by any watchmaker.

Renowned craftsmen

Voutilainen, one of the most famous independent watchmakers of
our time, got to know Baumberger in 1994 and began to work with him
as an independent contractor. A year after Baumberger's unexpected
2010 passing, Voutilainen related how he loved Baumberger's human
qualities alongside his incredible knowledge of vintage horology.
At the official launch of Urban Jürgensen's P8 chronometer in March
in Basel, Voutilainen explained that Baumberger - who was very
strict in his expectation of mechanical aesthetics - had a dream to
make both a new movement and a new escapement to honor the long
history of Urban Jürgensen.

In 2005, Baumberger decided to realise his dream and thus became
the first client of then-fledgling Chronode SA, founded by IWC's
previous head of product development, Mojon. The gifted watchmaker
and concepteur explained that he felt grateful to have had such a
"privileged relationship" with Baumberger. Mojon and his team
designed the new movement from scratch - according to work
previously completed by Pratt - with the idea of improving rate,
performance and stability. The result is Calibre UJS08, a large and
aesthetically pleasing movement that contains a world premier: the
first pivoted detent escapement made for a wristwatch. Urban
Jürgensen has received a worldwide patent for it. Baumberger,
unfortunately, did not live to see his dream finally become
reality. The COSC and Chronofiable-certified movement resulting
from the work of these four men is now available under the
leadership of the surviving family and Crott, who, in addition to
his role as adviser, is a major shareholder of the company. As well
as the prototyping, Voutilainen is responsible for the assembly,
finishing and regulating of Calibre P8.

In order to close the loop from the past to modern
times in an elegant and meaningful manner, development of a new
movement incorporating the chronometer escapement was
undertaken.

Pivoted detent on the wrist

The result is a classically beautiful and wondrously aesthetic
piece of watchmaking that only shows its incredible finesse when
the wearer turns the piece over to reveal through the sapphire
crystal caseback, the 32mm movement containing a free-sprung
balance oscillating at 21,600 vph. A clue to the firepower located
within is provided on the dial by the hacking second hand: while a
Swiss lever escapement with a frequency of 21,600vph (3Hz) moves
the second hand six times per second, the detent escapement moves
the second hand just three times per second in defined, little
deadbeat jumps. Close observation will reveal to a connoisseur
in-the-know that this is no ordinary escapement.

The 42mm gold wristwatch, whose face comprises a silver dial
that has been guillochéd by hand, includes the hacking seconds at 6
o'clock and a power reserve indication at 12 o'clock. For
enthusiasts who love the look of this über-classic watch in
platinum, rose gold, or yellow gold but don't have the necessary
SFr.55,000 to spend, Urban Jürgensen does offer a version with a
classic Swiss lever escapement for considerably less - for the time
being, anyway.

The manually wound Calibre P8, which includes twin spring
barrels for 88 hours of power reserve, has been designed as a base
movement and, if all goes well, it will be able to accommodate up
to 36 different variations in the future.